Jump to content

Impossible to Find Shrimp Veterinarian


Queerzzical

Recommended Posts

Has anyone else found it neigh impossible to find a vet that will look at shrimp?

I've talked to nearly all the exotic vets in my area (Chicagoland), including a connection I had to a zoo vet, and even the vets that have experience with invertebrates have refused to see and attempt a diagnosis them due to not having experience with shrimps. I've been attempting to get a prescription-only medication, but there hasn't been any way to get a hold of it beyond online ordering, which I prefer to avoid if possible.

I've spent many frustrating hours on the phone that haven't led to anything, so I'm hoping anyone here may have any advice or have had similar experiences.

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I doubt anyone has tried the Veterinarian route for shrimps as it would probably be too complex, time consuming and expensive! Probably you would be lucky if you could find one that would prescribe the medication you want but as you say that won't be easy either as they would want to see what you want it for.

If you want a specifc medication does that mean you know what the problem is, and where it came from?

If you post a photo and details on here there will likely be someone who can help diagnose it and may be able to advize what to do next!

There may be some details here,

https://skfaquatics.com/forum/forums/topic/5052-shrimp-diseases-and-diagnosis/

Simon 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tell us what is wrong with your shrimp and give us as much details about your water parameters as possible.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Apologies for the late reply, I had a lot of stuff that got in the way of basically everything.

Parameters:
20 gallon moderately planted
Filter: Fluval Aquaclear 50
No CO2, though I have the stuff for it.
12 Cherry shrimp
6 Otos
2 Assassin Snails

Temp: 76°
pH: ~8
Nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia: basically 0ppm
Chlorine: Absolute 0ppm
TDS: 295ppm
KH: 8°
GH: ~16-17°
Waiting until copper test kit comes in to check that, but I do run my water a few minutes before using it.
I do 25% water changes weekly.

Link to shrimp images because they are too large to upload. Don't worry about the girl with the white ring, she molted perfectly and was fine.

Having looked through the shrimp disease and diagnosis, I initially was thinking that they might have muscular necrosis, which is why I was looking into the medication. Taking another look at my parameters makes me second guess this. Might still be a disease, but I would be most grateful for any helpful advice/recommendations from those that know better. Thank you.

I can move this to specifically Shrimp Disease and Diagnosis if that is more appropriate.

Edited by Queerzzical
Small addition
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has the shrimp been dying consistently? Or are you just worried about the colouration?

Your water parameters are a bit on the hard side and can do with lowering of  ph, TDS, KH and GH.

But if the shrimp are not dying then the colour is not something to be worried about. Many cherry reds have that stripe. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shrimp were doing fair for a while, but I have had a few die these last few weeks. The coloration is secondary, but would be nice to have a bit more homogenized. Good to know the stripe is normal, but many shrimp have more than just that as shown in the pictures.

Been trying to lower the pH (without chemical adjusters) for a long time, but that's always a losing battle. Should I consider RO, or are there other methods of improving conditions? Not sure how else I could change all those otherwise.

If it is a disease, should I explore options with medications the diseases forum lists as potential treatments?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Queerzzical said:

but many shrimp have more than just that as shown in the pictures.

Yes, I notice the shrimp in the 1st and 2nd pictures have more than just a stripe. I haven't seen cherries with such a mottled colouration.

 

4 hours ago, Queerzzical said:

Don't worry about the girl with the white ring, she molted perfectly and was fine.

did this shrimp's colour revert back to normal after the moult?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have had those red with stripe so don't worry aabout those, they are fine! Going by the pictures I don't think it is a disease but more likely just water parameters?

Those stats though are double the norm, or what you want to aim for. Unless the shrimp are dying in big numbers though, don't change it fast, but slowly adjust the water parameters. Neocaridina shrrimp are usually ok in tap water but I think yours is probably too hard. Also, do you suffer with evaporation as that will cause a build up as evaporation is pure water?

There are 3 alternative water supplies to consider,

1) Bottled water, though that needs to be as close to RO as you van get hold of!

2) RO water filtered water either from your own filter, or purchased at an aquarium shop!

3) RO water from a zerowater filter jug (readily available and cheap in USA, walmart, online etc www.zerowater.com). This produces water almost as RO. The filters may not last long with such hard water as yours, but you can only find that out by trial?  A filter does about 100L of my TDS 180 tap water.

If you start using RO water you will eventually need to add GH/KH+ as the RO water has zero of anything in it. You can start changing 10% water each week with just RO to start, and that will bring your parameters down gradually. You don't need to do more than 10% weekly  water changes anyway with your setup, shrimp don't have much of a bioload?

Simon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, jayc said:

did this shrimp's colour revert back to normal after the moult?

I believe it did lighten up, but still had notable white coloration. All shrimp did start out red.

10 hours ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

Do you suffer with evaporation as that will cause a build up as evaporation is pure water?

If you start using RO water you will eventually need to add GH/KH+ as the RO water has zero of anything in it.

You don't need to do more than 10% weekly  water changes anyway with your setup, shrimp don't have much of a bioload?

I do have a fair amount of evaporation. I need to get a lid that doesn't get in the way of my filter, probably a custom cut piece of glass/acrylic.

Since my stats are about double, is a viable option to do half RO and half tap to give me the proper parameters? I might need to experiment with that before using it in my tank.

I was doing higher water changes to help with any disease, but if it's just the parameter then the filter will just do it's job.

I'm considering switching substrates from eco-complete to ADA to help with the pH, but that would mean housing my fish elsewhere for a couple weeks which I don't have the room for.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It probably doesn't hurt to start taking steps to reduce the parameters you have.

A fourth option is collecting rain water and remineralise it up to the ideal parameters your shrimp needs. 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Other options of reducing hardness and pH would be IAL, peat moss (such as sphagnum or similar) or driftwood.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

54 minutes ago, Crabby said:

Other options of reducing hardness and pH would be IAL, peat moss (such as sphagnum or similar) or driftwood.

I do use IAL and have driftwood and cholla wood, but no peat moss. I'll look into it.

Thank you everyone for the advice.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Possibly a better way to fix the problem, instead of continually battling the high pH and hardness, is to find the source of the problem and remove it. Usually (unless you just have hard tap water) it'll be the rocks or substrate.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Queerzzical said:

I do use IAL and have driftwood and cholla wood, but no peat moss.

Gotta do something about that high KH first, in order for IAL and driftwood to be effective.

Even changing out 20% of your tank water with rain water collected by leaving out buckets will be a change for more favourable tank parameters. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Queerzzical said:

I do have a fair amount of evaporation. I need to get a lid that doesn't get in the way of my filter, probably a custom cut piece of glass/acrylic.

Since my stats are about double, is a viable option to do half RO and half tap to give me the proper parameters? I might need to experiment with that before using it in my tank.

You should top up with RO water when you get evaporation, but a lid should reduce the evaporation!

You can aim for the 50% RO/rain water and 50% tapwater mix down the line and that should work well enough. You need to transition the shrimps slowly though otherwise you will probably wipe them all out as they are very sensitive to water changes. I would do 10-20% water change each week using RO/rain water only until you get to the right parameters (will be more than a month) and then you can start mixing 50/50 water. And always top up with RO/Rain water only. RO water will also bring the PH down but you will need to check the Ph of the rain water, though I would expect that to be ok as well? Always add the new water into the tank slowly, usually a dripper setup is the best way!

As crabby points out, there may be someting else in the tank as well which is increasing the parameters, like rock etc?

I wouldn't bother changing the substrate at this point! You don't need the buffering for cherry shrimp as they prefer Ph7-7.5 anyway and with the new mixed water you should get to that easily enough. In fact new substrate with the (new) different water would probably make the Ph too low and better suited for caridina shrimps!  

Do the full set of Parameter tests on your tap water to make sure that that is part/main problem!

Simon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

  • Posts

    • beanbag
      Update to say that after a few gravel vacs, front wall scrub, moss / floating plant trim, that the condition seems to have improved.  My current theory is that it is due to waste / debris management, where "stuff" like that brown mulm accumulates in the substrate and behind the HMF filters.  Maybe some tanks can somehow deal with it, but mine can't.  Also another experienced shrimper suggested that maybe those "shell bugs" don't just live on the shrimps but also in this debris.  Maybe this is the reason some tanks fail due to "old tank syndrome" where all they need is a good gravel vac? Also, I am guessing that plant trim helps too because now more of the nutrients and light go into growing algae instead of more plants? Well anyway for this tank I will try weekly water change and monthly gravel vac / plant trim.  For my next tank, I'm thinking of something like an under-gravel system where this mulm can fall down and I vac it out.
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Good to have an update and good to hear you are getting shrimplets, so hopefully your colony will continue and you may not get to the point where you have to cull some to stop over population. These type of shrimp only live 12 - 18 months so the adult deaths may be natural? If you have the time I would do weekly 25% water changes, adding the new water via a drip system and do some vacuuming clean of the substrate each week, even if only a different bit each week! See if that helps in a few months and if it does then stick with that regime? It should help reduce any build-ups that may be occuring!
    • beanbag
      Hello again, much belated update: The tank still has "cycles" of 1-2 month "good streaks" where everybody seems to be doing well, and then a bad streak where the short antenna problem shows up again, and a shrimp dies once every few days.  I am not sure what causes things to go bad, but usually over the course of a few days I will start to see more shrimp quietly standing on the HMF filter, and so I know something is wrong.  Since I am not "doing anything" besides the regular 1-2 week water changes, I just assume that something bad is building up.  Here's a list of things that I've tried that are supposed to be "can't hurt" but didn't prevent the problem either: Dose every other day with Shrimp Fit (very small dose, and the shrimp seem to like it) Sotching Oxydator Seachem Purigen to keep the nitrates lower Keeping the pH below 5.5 with peat Things that I don't do often, so could possibly "reset" the tank back to a good streak, are gravel vac and plant trim, so maybe time to try those again. One other problem I used to have was that sometimes a shrimp would suddenly stop eating with a full or partially full digestive tract that doesn't clear out, and then the shrimp will die within a few days.  I suspected it was one of the foods in my rotation - Shrimp Nature Infection, which contains a bunch of herbal plant things.  I've had this in my food rotation for a few years now and generally didn't seem to cause problems, but I removed it from the rotation anyway.  I don't have a lot of adult Golden Bees at this point so I can't really tell if it worked or not. Overall the tank is not too bad - during the good streaks occasionally a shrimp will get berried and hatch babies with a 33-50% survival rate.  So while there are fewer adults now, there are also a bunch of babies roaming around.  I guess this tank will stagger on, but I really do need to take the time to start up a new tank.  (or figure out the problem)
    • jayc
      If that is the offspring, then the parents are unlikely to be PRL. I tend to agree with you. There are very few PRLs in Australia. And any that claim to be needs to show proof. PRL genes have to start as PRL. CRS that breed true after x generations doesn't turn it into a PRL. Neither can a Taiwan bee shrimp turn into a PRL despite how ever many generations. I've never seen a PRL with that sort of red colour. I have on Red Wines and Red Shadows - Taiwan bee shrimps. So somewhere down the line one of your shrimp might have been mixed with Taiwan bees and is no longer PRL. It just tanks one shrimp to mess up the genes of a whole colony. 
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Sorry, missed this one somehow! The PRL look fantastic and the odd ones look part PRL and part Red wine/Red shadow in the colour. They are still very beautiful but ideally should be seperated to help keep the PRL clean if you can do that.  Nice clear photos!
×
×
  • Create New...